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Sunday, 15 December 2013

Tommi's Burger Joint / Marylebone

Who Are They?

A self confessed pop-up turned permanent, Tommi's is a small and unassuming place in Marylebone area. On the suggestion of Mr. Hazeel, who works not very far from this establishment, it seemed like a decent enough place to try out of a Friday night.

Thoughts

When doing a bit of preparation for this venue (in particular, how to find it), their website did give a good idea of what do expect. The menu highlights a simple if slightly small number of offerings and we both decided on the Steak Burger with fries, if only to see what they could do. On ordering, we expected our beers to be delivered to our table, but after these were not forthcoming after as many minutes, we had to press an apologetic waitress for service. Perhaps they were not expecting much trade?

Funnily enough, for a Friday night around 6pm the place is not particularly busy, but by the time we walked out, there was a sizeable queue and all the tables had been taken. We attribute this to the fact that Tommi's is in walking distance from Patty & Bun and that a number of people who either couldn't get in or didn't fancy the wait probably wandered up the street to see if they could get something worth their while here. This turns out to be a basket containing a generous supply of chips in a basket and a burger wrapped in paper (presumably for that takeaway charm).I think the verdict from us both is unanimous in that your money is better spent on the proper steak burger. There's definitely a decent bit of beef in that there burger, if only it could be better backed up by the company it keeps, including a token piece of limp lettuce and cased in a squidgy, McDonalds-esque burger bun. In continuing with the theme of the big M, the accompanying fries are also not much to write about as they are of the barely-fried catering grade variety and very similar in quality to all the major burger chains. Put simply, there's not enough to differentiate itself from other offerings in London, but if you're after a slightly better burger than Maccy Dee's but with some familiar tastes, it certainly fills a takeaway niche.Like a toddler first learning to walk, I imagine that Tommi's are going to have some initial problems to begin with now that they have become a more permanent fixture. What would work for a pop-up venue, market stall or mobile eatery doesn't necessarily translate to something that works in a sit-down environment or even justifies the time to sit down. I am sure that they probably do a roaring trade around lunch time (especially for the meal for a tenner) but for an evening meal it's nothing special.

Conclusion

An okay burger, but sadly lacking in anything to differentiate it from the standard fare on offer in any mainstream chain. If this is the score for the so-called premium steak burger I do wonder what the outcome would have been for the bog-standard burger?